Eric Van Allen

Vitality’s Young Bucks Are Starting Hot In European League of Legends

Team Vitality came into the 2018 season with four players lifted wholesale from another roster. Despite a promising performance in the challenger series, these four ex-Giants were going to be playing on the big stage under a new banner. In the last two weeks, they’ve proven they can more than handle the spotlight. The rookies…

Fifth Maps In Pro Overwatch Are Good As Hell

Overwatch League matches are played across four maps, and usually, the result is a win or loss in those four maps. More often than not it’s a 4-0 sweep, or a decisive 3-1. You can even tie on certain maps, leading to score lines like week 1’s Dallas v. Seoul game that ended 2-1. But…

The Stopwatch Has Slowed Pro League of Legends To A Crawl

This past weekend was the season opener for the North American League of Legends Championship Series. It was the first games for a newly franchised LCS and also the first on the newest patch of the game, and one thing dominated: a whole lot of stopwatches. The stopwatch was added last November, but opening weekend…

Which One Was The Confetti Button Again?

Looks like the Hawaiian emergency alert operator found a new job at Blizzard. During a tense grand finals between Frank “Fr0zen” Zhang and Chen “tom60229″ Wi Lin at the Hearthstone World Championships today, someone seemed to bump the winner’s confetti button. Chen would go on to win in a reverse sweep against Zhang’s Jade Druid…

Congratulations to Chen “tom60229″ Wei Lin, winner of the 2017 Hearthstone World Championships. Chen won in a reverse sweep against Fr0zen, and takes home $250,000 USD in prize money.

Evil Geniuses Fall In A Sweep At Former Dota 2 Major

This weekend was another shot for the new look of Evil Geniuses to prove itself. While the team’s run up to the grand finals seemed steady, a devastating three-and-done series showed the lineup hasn’t found its footing yet. Since the shuffle that brought on Rasmus “Misery” Filipsen as the new captain and cut long-time offlaner…

Splatoon Player Clinches Win With The Most Satisfying Dunk

Most players might just use Splatoon 2‘s high-flying super jump to get back into the action after you’ve respawned. Saffron Rice’s DNerd found a different use: to sink the game-winning clam. During yesterday’s Splatoon 2 tournament at Genesis 5, Saffron was down in a game of Clam Blitz that had gone into overtime. Their opponents,…

Doublelift Gets Revenge In North American League Opener

A long-time veteran of the North American League of Legends scene, Yiliang “Doublelift” Peng wrote at the start of this year that one of his goals was to beat his former teammates on Team SoloMid. He didn’t have to wait long. The 2018 North American League Championship Series started with a hyped-up grudge match between…

The Competitive Smash 4 Scene Is Anxiously Awaiting Nintendo’s Next Big Move

The last few years have been pivotal in establishing Super Smash Bros. For Wii U as its own game, separate from its everlasting older sibling Melee. The Smash 4 scene has grown, developed major personalities and storylines, and saw its Evo grand finals live on cable television. Now all eyes are on Nintendo for what’s…

When All Else Fails, Rush The Nexus

Today’s match between the Unicorns of Love and Splyce in the European League Championship Series was looking like it might go on for ages, until both teams decided to ignore procedure and dive straight for the nexus. Known as a “base race,” both teams tried to rush in and destroy the other’s nexus, the ultimate objective…

Longest Game In Pro League of Legends History Shatters Records

Last night’s match between the Jin Air Green Wings and world championship runner-up SKT T1 was not a quick or quiet affair. The best-of-three went the full series, culminating in a 94-minute finale that was both maddening and fascinating. SKT T1, often lauded as one of the best teams in the game, found a tough…

South Korean Overwatch Team Lunatic-Hai Disbands

Lunatic-Hai announced yesterday that it would be disbanding and leaving the Overwatch competitive scene. In a statement (h/t InvenGlobal) the team says it was “difficult to face the radical changes within and outside Overwatch.” “We couldn’t be certain of consistent investment for the organization and the business,” wrote director Tae-Su Kim. “And we couldn’t bring…

Report: Dota Team Told Player He Was Cut During Pizza Party

After qualifying for a Dota 2 major, international esports team Fnatic suddenly dumped their offlane player Khoo “Ohaiyo” Chong Xin for Saahil “Universe” Arora, reportedly during a pizza dinner. The official announcement came January 13, when Fnatic confirmed that the former Evil Geniuses offlane player Arora would be joining the team, taking Ohaiyo’s role in…

Smash 4‘s Top Player Is Taking A Break From Competition

The same day as he was revealed as the top ranked player in the Panda Global rankings, Gonzalo “ZeRo” Barrios announced he would no longer be competing in Super Smash Bros. For Wii U… for now. In a letter posted on Barrios’ Twitter, the number-one player in Smash 4 said he has lost his passion…

Overwatch Pros Showed Us Their Best Snipes, Dunks, And Hogs On Opening Night

The inaugural day of the Overwatch League was, overall, pretty cool. Several players rose to the occasion, showcasing the stark contrast in skill between a professional Overwatch player and your average Hanzo main. From hooks and headshots to an old sniper dunking an explosive tire, here were some of the best plays that I can’t…

Tyler1 Takes Over Twitch In His Return To League of Legends

After his indefinite ban from League of Legends was lifted last week, Tyler1 made his return to streaming the MOBA game on his Twitch channel today, decked out in full Draven cosplay. The virtual seats filled pretty quick. In his first game back, the opposing team recognized Tyler and banned his signature Draven. As he…

StarCraft Players Forced To Re-Do Matches After Tournament Gets Seeded Wrong

The 2018 StarCraft II season got off to an early start today with the European qualifiers for WCS Leipzig. Early might have been too early though, as 30 minutes into the matches, admins had to rebuild the tournament’s bracket. While matches were taking place, one player noted in the lobby chat that seeding for the…

Genji On The Roof

Liam “Mangachu” Campbell is a Canadian Overwatch player who’s quite good, as shown in his use of Eichenwalde’s rooftops to strike with Genji’s ultimate. Campbell is still a free agent, if any teams are still looking to fill out their roster.

Green Bay Linebacker Played Dota 2 For Months Under Ridiculous Name

Blake Martinez of the Green Bay Packers not only tied for leading the NFL in tackles this season, but also finds some time to play Dota 2 on the side. Though he currently plays under “Packernation50,” Martinez told the story of his induction to the cult of Dota at yesterday’s Captains Draft 4.0 tournament—including his…

Overwatch APEX Tournament Series Is Over

Ahead of the kickoff week of Blizzard’s Overwatch League, South Korean cable network OGN announced that its long-running Overwatch APEX league is over. A statement from OGN went into the specifics: We did our best and agreed to most of Blizzard’s conditions on continuing the competition, but we were notified that Blizzard was preparing a…